Retailer/Manufacturer – Larue Tactical – USA


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LaRue Tactical
USA

LaRue Tactical out of Texas is primarily a Real Steel supplier of AR Accessories. But their innovative designs, and customer service will interest the avid airsofter. I’ve made a few purchases form LaRue over the last year. Items such as:


LaRue Tactical – 30mm Pivot Mount w/ Hendsholt 2.5 Magnifier


LaRue Tactical – M68 Cantilever Mount


LaRue Tactical – ECOS-C EOTech Mount

The LaRue quality is top notch and their products all seem to have some thought put behind the design. For example the LaRue Tactical – 30mm Pivot Mount w/ Hendsholt 2.5 Magnifier is an under $200 solution which included mount and optics. Works great and a fraction of the cost of Aimpoint’s or Eotech’s magnifier solutions. The LaRue Tactical – ECOS-C EOTech Mount not only gives your EOTech a QD Lever Throw mounting solution, the rear riser is the perfect height for an Aimpoint Magnifier or any low mount NV device.

And a nice holiday surprise LaRue sent was:


LaRue Tactical – 2007 Holiday Dillio/Field Survival Device/Xmas Ornament


LaRue Tactical – 2008 Holiday Dillio/Field Survival Device/Xmas Ornament

Marushin – Five-Seven USG

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Manufacturer: Marushin (Japan)
Type: GBB


Marushin – Five-Seven USG, 6mm

Since my first AEG, an FN -P90, I’ve been interested in the 5.7x28mm round and anything that could be related. The FN Five-Seven (Named after the round, duh), is the first semi auto pistol to take this round. Marushin created the first replica of the USG variant and did quite a nice job appearance wise.


Marushin – Five-Seven USG, 6mm

Unfortunately, a decent airsoft GBB can’t only rely on appearances alone… The overall build of this gun is plastic. Only notable areas of metal build are the magazine, outer barrel and firing mechanism parts (linkages, springs, etc). The overall weight of the USG is around 1.6 lbs, which most of that weight is in the magazine. The FN Herstal name was removed by "milling" out the plastic as seen in the above pic.


Marushin – Five-Seven USG, 6mm

I opted to go with the 6mm version, since 6mm is closer to the size of the 5.7mm cartridge. The 6mm carries 18 rounds, the 8mm holds only 10 rounds and the real Five-Seven holds 20 rounds. In the FPS results below you’ll see that the 8mm has pretty much the same if not better FPS then the 6mm but if you take into account the weight and mass of an 8mm bb over a 6mm you can see the 8mm gun was designed to be more powerful.


Marushin – Five-Seven USG, 6mm

Some people saying that this Marushin product is a U.S. Import Version. While yes, technically if you live in the U.S. and you buy anything imported it can be considered a U.S. import version. The Marushin Five-Seven USG that is being distributed by Spartan Imports has NOT been modified/reinforced, like the U.S. import Versions of the Marushin M500, M1 Garand and M2 Carbine for higher pressure gas use.


Marushin – Five-Seven USG, 6mm

Take down is EXTREMELY easy. Unfortunately the hopup adjustment allen screw is hard to reach and does require removal of the barrel from slide to adjust.

Gas Usage Advisory!
Any Japanese Manufactured, Gas Blow Back Pistols are built to take 134agas, which is weaker then Green Gas. From my personal experience I found that Tokyo Marui, Western Arms and KSC GBB’s can handle the more powerful Green Gas without problems. But for most other Japanese GBB’s the use of the weaker 134a will insure a long, lif
e. Use higher pressure gases at your own risk!

That being said… Of course I tested both 6mm and 8mm version on both 134a and Green Gas. Average FPS results below.

 
Marushin – Five-Seven, 6mm
.20 bb
Marushin – Five-Seven, 8mm
.27 bb
134a Gas @ 74? F.
252 fps
236 fps
Green Gas @ 74? F.
317 fps
320 fps

Update – 10/29/2007

Started taking the orange tip off the slide this morning, using the DW, Goof Off technique. Found out the plastic slide isn’t made of the best quality because Goof Off started to melt the plastic of slide where the paint was being removed from.

Looking more closely into the plastic slide itself, it’s a 2 piece slide. There was speculation at one time that the plastic slide was metal reinforced internally. It is 100% not. The slide has an internal plastic frame.


Marushin – Five-Seven USG, 6mm
, Parts Diagram. Note the 2 part slide

There is also a feature that Marushin calls the "Real Indicator". It is an indicator at the rear of the slid that tells you if the internal hammer is cocked. Unfortunately it’s extremely hard to tell what position it’s in due to the fact its the same color as the slide and recessed in the slide. Diagram below shows how it works, it’s just not as visible as the diagram portrays.


Marushin – Five-Seven USG, 6mm
, "Real Indicator" Diagram

A curiosity of the 8mm Five-Seven is the use of a "bent" or "flatline" style of inner barrel in conjunction with a traditional hopup allen screw setup. That bend adding friction to the top of the bb, thus adding more backspin. The 6mm version does not have this bent inner barrel though, but has 2 hopup adjustment screws. Looking into more details regarding this.


Marushin – Five-Seven USG, 8mm
, "Flatline" style Hopup

Rico – Alpha 9 Tactical Light

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Manufacturer: Rico Tactics (Hong Kong)
Type: Tactical Light


Rico – Alpha 9 Tactical Light

The Rico Alpha 9 Tactical light has been available for a few years now. Many reviews already exist but the real draw for me was how popular the Rico Alpha 9 has become in the Real Steel Gun community. I have experience first hand how durable these are when mounted to AR-15’s. The manual states they will work on guns up to 7.62×51.


Rico – Alpha 9 Tactical Light

This one is the newest generation of Alpha 9 that features a new pressure pad with guard and a paddle switch.

The Rico Alpha 9 is constructed with a high quality polymer body and aluminum skeletal frame. The light is impact resistant from a 2 meter drop and is water resistant. It has a super strong 3mm poly-carbonate lens and full aluminum lamp housing with striker flashlight head and butt cap. Powered by three CR123A batteries, the 250 lumen bulb will deliver blinding illumination. The small LED search lights are functional and provide enough light to search a small room without giving up your position with the main light.

Pro Arms – M203 CQB Grip w/Light Mount

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Manufacturer: Pro Arms (Hong Kong)
Type: Vertical Grip


Pro Arms – M203 CQB Grip w/Light Mount

The Pro Arms – M203 CQB Grip w/Light Mount is a replica of one of RM Equipment’s products called the M203Grip. The Pro-Arms replica uses a lateral pressure attachment system and attaches to 1 of the M203’s fore grip ribs very securely.

It also comes with a Tactical Light attachment which can be mounted either side. The light attachment works with 1" diameter tactical lights with a tail cap screw on switch. Most metal Surefire’s and clones will work. Surefire Nitrolons will not work though. There is a ridge in the light attachment where the tail cap pressure fits. The light attachment screws into the plastic of the vertical grip though, so if your not careful, you may strip the threads.

  • Does it aid in grenade loading or removing on an M203? For me no.
  • Does it look cooler then just an M203 by itself? Subjective.
  • Does it add more un needed weight to your AEG? You betcha.

Ebaybanned / EB Airsoft – China


Ebaybanned / EBAirsoft
China

Purchased initially when the site opened in Oct 2007.

This is a mainland China retailer and ALL prices on the site include International shipping. Ordered on Oct 2nd, shipment received Oct 5th. Ordered a couple of MC Combat Shirts, MC Range Vest, MC Waist Pack and M900A (Have to equip the posse for Halloween @ Disneyworld). Quality is Chinese copy level, so on par for what you are paying for.

2 weeks later I got an email from Ebaybanned.com stating they had a new version of the MC Combat shirt shortly after my first order with them shipped. It was in their usual Chinglish, so I took it as a little marketing email on their end. Turns out the email was stating they were going to send me the new version of the MC Combat Shirt. The 1st generation had no velcro on the sleeves for patches. 2nd generation does and uses different material for the torso of the shirt. I was pleasantly surprised when I received 2 replacement shirts today at no charge and not by any request on my end.

Around Aug 2008, Ebaybanned did a little restructuring and hired a few more people. Their turn around times stretched out to 3-4 weeks. Turn around times seem to be getting better in 2009. Averaging about 2 weeks now.

Overall, I’ve placed 20+ orders to date. Just be patient and it’s all good.


Star – “Brittle” Grip

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Manufacturer: Star Airsoft (Hong Kong)
Type: Pistol Grip


Star – Battle “Brittle” Grip

I have been a long time satisfied customer of Star Airsoft, from purchasing their Special Forces Crane Stock and Low Cap Magazine Box Set a few years back. Unfortunately I either recently got a lemon, or Star’s using some pretty shoddy plastic as of late.


Star – Battle “Brittle” Grip

I Installed the grip on my VLTOR Modified TM M4 about 2 months ago. Grip felt nice a ergo, but tended to get warm during sustained full auto fire. It’s been basically in and out of the rifle bag 3-4 times and never in field. A few days ago I pull the AEG out and hear "snap". A crack had opened near the centerline of the back strap and internally pieces cracked and were chipping off.


Star – Battle “Brittle” Grip

Bottom line, the AEG sat in the rifle bag for about 2 months… And it broke due to non use ;(

LaRue Tactical – M68 and ECOS-C Mounts

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Manufacturer: LaRue Tactical (USA)
Type: Optics Mounts


LaRue Tactical – M68 Cantilever Mount

Ended up buying the Larue M68 Cantilever Mount since it the exact height of Larue Pivot Sidefold Mount.


LaRue Tactical – M68 Cantilever Mount

Great engineering as you would expect from Larue.


LaRue Tactical – ECOS-C EOTech Mount

I also got a Larue ECOS-C EOTech Mount, which gives me a throw lever and slightly raised mount.


LaRue Tactical – ECOS-C Eotech Mount

Comes with a raised rear rail for use with a fixed PVS-14 NV Mount.


LaRue Tactical – ECOS-C Eotech Mount

Intel – AEX L.A. – 08.23.07

Yeah it’s been a while since I’ve reported on anything. Quite honeslty, I’ve either been buying stuff that I touch at the shop and posting direct reviews on them or just not seeing anything worth while to mess around with. But a few goodies I had to check out in the last few trips.

VFC – BAR 1919

It’s a great BAR replica. It’s deceptively light at about 9 lbs, it’s less then half the weight of a real BAR. This is a good weight difference example of building a gun in aluminum over steel. But it’s 1:1 scale and really only for people with big paws. This is a Metal and Wood build.

This one held around 365 fps consistently and it includes a high cap magazine.

But the $1700.00 price tag will probably keep this 1 AEG out of most peoples hands.

Classic Army – CA53

I’ve been waiting for this to show up for a while now.

Shot around the 325-335 fps mark. Beautiful reproduction of the early HK53 with SEF lower. Hope CA makes the HK53 with Navy Markings adn teh 3 shot burst one day.

Features: Metal Body, Metal Front Set, Steel Flash Hider, A3 Lower Receiver, One-piece Forgrip, Metal Hop Up Chamber, 450 Rd Hi-Cap Magazine, Spring- Loaded, Retractable Stock.

Classic Army – SA58 Carbine

The CA SA58 is a reproduction of the DSA SA58, which is a licensed copy of the FN-FAL. this is the Carbine version of the SA58. The build is solid with an all metal machined upper with integrated rail. The big suprise was the working bolt catch!

I was able to do a side by side comparison with the King Arms FAL Tactical Carbine. The CA version is a bit lighter even though more metal is being used. The CA SA58 has integrated top rail, the KA FAL does not. They do not use the same magazines.

The CA SA58 held around 295-310 fps and is a solid build.

Features: Real Firearm Trademark, Realistic Bolt Action, Unique Serial Number, 500 Rd Hi Cap Magazine,7mm Metal Bushing Gear Box, Fiber Fore-Grip, Stock & Hand Grip, CNC Upper Receiver with Scope Mount.

 

 

LaRue Tactical – 30mm Pivot Mount w/ Hendsholt 2.5 Magnifier

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Manufacturer: LaRue Tactical (USA)
Type: Side Folding Mount


LaRue Tactical – 30mm Pivot Mount w/ Hendsholt 2.5 Magnifier

I've been jealously eyeing AEX Mickey's Samson Side Folding Mount and Aimpont 3x Magnifier since he first got it a few years ago. but with a price tag near $600, I put this on the back burner.

Fortunately, the good ol's boys at LaRue Tactical came up with their own setup. It's a side folding mount with 30mm ring and setup to mount an Aimpoint, EOTech or any 30mm tubed magnifier at the same height of an aimpoint. They also make a version that is the proper height for an EOtech 551, 552 direct rail mounted. The side fold is easy to operate and keeps the magnifier positively held in position.


LaRue Tactical – 30mm Pivot Mount w/ Hendsholt 2.5 Magnifier with Eotech

The LaRue guys also found a bunch of surplus Hensholdt rocket launcher 2.5x sights. They are only 1 inch tubes (with included 30mm adapter), but for the price they work great. 2.5 Magnification is great for airsoft engagement distances. It gives you enough of magnification advantage w/o being too powerful to track your bb's flight path.

LaRue Side Flip Mount and Hensholdt Magnifier costs under $200.00 and LaRue was nice enough to throw in other goodies (Hat, Armadillo Multi-Tool).

UPDATE

Quality optics wise that Hendsholdt sight is crystal clear. Probably due to the glass not being tinted, but impressivly nice optics.


LaRue Tactical – 30mm Pivot Mount w/ Hendsholt 2.5 Magnifier with AP mounted on a Samurai M69 adjustable height mount.

SWAT Replica IBH Helmet (Tan)

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Manufacturer: SWAT (Hong Kong)
Type: Gear


SWAT Replica IBH Helmet (Tan)

  • Removable Foam Insert
  • Dummy Tri-Point NVG Mount
  • 4 Point Chin Strap System

How does it compare to the $100.00 Proud IBH Replica? The Proud replica appears to have a bit more texture on the shell, and the straps webbing seems to be a bit higher quality, but they are pretty close in build. the Proud Helmet also includes black velcro loop patches, but the SWAT version does not.

The Toy Soldier Swimmers and Devgru Frogman headsets worked well with this helmet.